


Garlic for Dinner?

by fictionalportal



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, F/F, Human Carmilla Karnstein, Sort Of Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 04:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3555734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalportal/pseuds/fictionalportal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>got a wonderfully challenging prompt on tumblr that carmilla is cured of vampirism and that's laura's birthday present. i was told to make it fluffy. check it ouuuuuuut. one-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Garlic for Dinner?

Laura’s birthday. Dinner was going to be carb heaven: breadsticks, pasta, and all the extras a full-course Italian meal mandated. Perry had helped Carmilla bake chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Even with all the food perfectly prepared, Carmilla was still nervous.

She wasn’t sure how Laura would react to her birthday gift. Would she consider it a clever way to avoid buying a real present? Just in case, Carmilla had also ordered her a shirt. It was like the Superman logo, but with an “L” on the chest. Superman, Lois Lane, Laura…maybe it was a stretch. In the event Laura found the shirt too cheesy, Carmilla had prepared a long monologue about planning a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. She hoped she didn’t have to remember it off the top of her head against her nerves. Her palms were sweating long before she heard a knock on the dorm room door.

“Carm? Are you in there? Why is the door locked?”

Laura. Crap. Showtime.

“H-hang on, cupcake,” Carmilla sputtered. “Give me—ah, one second.” She fumbled to unlock the door while holding the wrapped shirt, dropping the present on the ground as Laura swung the door open. Great start, Karnstein. If chivalry wasn’t already dead, you just knocked it into a coma.

“So…how was your day?” It sounded like she was expecting something. Had Carmilla forgotten some major detail? She spun around to reexamine the room. The square plastic outdoor table Danny had lent her from the Summer Society equipment shed was in the center of the room and covered with a dark green table cloth. The food was set. The cookies were waiting in the kitchen.

“Happy birthday,” Carmilla blurted out, ignoring Laura’s question and thrusting the present at her chest. She crossed quickly to the kitchen and grabbed the plate of chocolate chip cookies.

“Dessert before dinner. How scandalous,” Laura teased. She smiled at her girlfriend as she crossed over to the kitchen and grabbed a cookie off the plate.

“Yeah, well.” Carmilla looked down and away from Laura as she spoke. “Change isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

Laura narrowed her eyes at Carmilla. “Isn’t it a little early for this kind of philosophizing? Usually that’s more middle-of-the-night, staring-at-the-stars kind of stuff.”

“Ar-are you hungry?” Carmilla stuttered. Get it together. You’ve got some serious feelings-sharing to do.

“Pretty much always,” Laura nodded happily. She bounced over to the table, dropping her backpack next to her bed.

Carmilla shuffled over to the seat opposite her girlfriend.

Laura wrinkled her nose. “Is that garlic?”

“Italian,” Carmilla replied, pouring two glasses of fancy champagne.

“Wow.” Laura sounded impressed. Not to be a buzzkill, but isn’t garlic kind of…you know.”

“To vampires as chocolate is to dogs? Yes,” Carmilla stated.

“Carm, you didn’t have to do this for me. I want to eat my birthday dinner with you, not just across from you.”

“Hmm.” A smirk snuck onto Carmilla’s face as her eyes darted away from Laura. The dorm room floor was suddenly very interesting. Had that splinter always been there? What was Carmilla planning to say? Why were they having dinner in their dorm room again?

“You’re not having any, ah, soy milk?”

Carmilla’s breath caught. It wouldn’t have been a problem, before, but recent events had made breathing more of a necessity.

“Not—um, I don’t—really need it, anymore. Blood.” Nailed it.

Laura gave Carmilla a look of equal parts concern and confusion.

“More fake vampire lore?” Laura’s eyes brightened as she came to a realization. “So it really was food coloring and corn syrup! I thought you were just pranking me, but really it was just to intimidate—”

“Laura.”

“Sorry. Rambling.”

“Laura.”

Carmilla finally looked up from her plate.

“What?”

“Vampires need blood,” Carmilla began slowly, “but I’m not one. Anymore.”

“What?” When Laura repeated the word, it was as a barely audible breath. Her eyes were fixed on Carmilla, staring into her. Carmilla fidgeted in her chair, turning to face Laura head-on. The former vampire folded her hands in her lap and continued.

“LaFontaine and I were trying to find something about Laphilformes, see if we could do anything, and they found a cure.”

A moment passed. Something in the air changed: the tension faded. Carmilla found herself quickly hiding behind a wall of sarcasm.

“Wouldn’t have guessed you were capable of speechlessness,” Carmilla said.

“Carmilla.” Laura was looking at her differently. Carmilla would have recognized the expression instantly if she had ever seen herself look at Laura when she wasn’t watching.

“No, no, no, hey, cupcake,” Carmilla reached across the table to wipe away the tears that had fallen onto Laura’s cheeks. “Don’t cry on your birthday.” Way to go. You made her cry on her birthday.

Laura brought her hand up to catch Carmilla’s as she withdrew it. She lowered their hands onto the tabletop. Both were quiet for a long time: Laura thinking, Carmilla waiting.

“Carm, I don’t know what to say,” Laura finally said.

“Please don’t try to tell me I didn’t do it for you.”

Laura’s eyes widened. “For me?”

“Of course,” Carmilla bit her lip, worried Laura would take it the wrong way. “I got you a real present too—”

“This is just…wow,” Laura breathed out. “You gave up being a vampire.”

“Wasn’t much of a contest. The prospect of living alone for the rest of eternity is arguably less enthralling than living a lifetime with you.”

Laura didn’t even try to stop the tears. She covered her mouth with her other hand and crushed Carmilla’s fingers in her grip.   
“Ow, Laura, no more superstrength,” Carmilla said, pulling her hand away.

The next second, Laura had quite literally tackled Carmilla in a hug. She had managed to pin Carmilla to her bed by grabbing her around the chest and throwing both of them backwards. Carmilla had landed awkwardly on her upper back and had clamped onto Laura’s hips with her thighs to keep from falling off the bed.

“Honestly, cupcake, I wasn’t expecting to get to this until after dinner.” Carmilla’s head had landed precariously close to the wall.

“Shut up, stupid not-vampire,” Laura said as she wiped her eyes. She dropped her forehead to meet Carmilla’s after delivering a quick peck to her lips. 

“I do have to eat food now,” Carmilla said.

Laura made a pouty noise of dissent and curled her head into Carmilla’s shoulder, hugging her tightly. Carmilla laughed a rare but genuinely happy laugh. She pulled Laura as close as possible and closed her eyes. Dinner could wait.


End file.
